Busting the myths associated with employee training and development

Think about the last training program that you organized. Did all the applicable employees enroll for the course? Did they attend the trainings on time and on the right dates? Was the feedback afterward largely positive? These questions are just the beginning of improving your corporate learning and development (L&D) program. If you find yourself saying no to any of them, its a good sign that some significant obstacles may be hindering professional development in your organization. Not to mention that with so many myths surrounding the topic of employee training, it's all too easy to be steered in the wrong direction while designing your learning programs.

To help you conduct first-class courses for your employees, we are debunking popular employee learning myths that you should stop regarding as true:

Myth #1: Training is only for new hires and under-performing employees

Many organizations are still under the notion that employees require training only during their induction stage. They tend to train employees mostly on how their department and organization works on the whole, or the training may be based on only what their role requires. Some organizations may have the habit of training just those employees whose performance is not up to the mark. Neither of these approaches will allow you to reap the complete benefits of employee training and development.

Every employee, irrespective of their experience, position, or designation, requires adequate training and development throughout their entire journey within your organization. Only this will help them scale their performance to the next level. For instance, a product marketer with two to three years of experience may be extremely fluent in marketing content, organizing webinars, and conducting market research. However, they may not be able to create excellent content copy for all mediums. Because they aren't new and their performance in other aspects of marketing is satisfactory, organizations may tend to exclude them from training programs. However, organizing a business writing training program can truly help them become better at their role and empower them to market your product in more intuitive ways.

Myth #2: Collaboration and feedback aren't necessary for training

Some training administrators may take the approach of delivering instruction and information throughout the entire course to make sure employees don't get distracted. Unfortunately, this will do more harm than good. A comprehensive training program should help your employees collaborate with their fellow learners and their trainers, and it should also facilitate a strong two-way feedback exchange.

When employees get a chance to collaborate and discuss with their fellow learners, they tend to come up with new ideas, share knowledge, spark creativity in others, and have a lot more fun. This will encourage more employees to take up training when they hear that the courses are fun rather than tedious. Collaborative learning can be facilitated by conducting debates, giving group assignments, organizing peer-to-peer learning, and enabling them to solve problems together. This can also help improve knowledge retention. Similarly, a two-way feedback system is vital. Receiving feedback from employees will help you strengthen your training program, and providing employees with feedback in return can help them improve their performance.

Myth #3: Training is only beneficial to employees

Some organizations may refrain from creating training programs for employees, thinking that these employees might leave their organization after building their skillset. This is not true. The more you invest in your employees, the more loyal they'll be and the better they'll work to step up your organizational success. Training reaffirms the trust your organization has in its employees' abilities, so individuals will be more apt to see training as a reward for their hard work. According to a learning report from LinkedIn, 94% of employees would stay at their organization longer if they saw their management investing in their growth. Also, training is one of the most important aspects to helping your organization gain a competitive advantage over other companies.

Myth #4: Online training programs are not effective

It's high time we stop doubting the efficiency of online training programs in imparting knowledge to employees. With remote work becoming the new normal, organizations should start understanding the convenience of online training programs and make them more available for their employees. Most workers these days are looking for flexible courses that allow them to learn at their own pace.

Intuitive learning management systems can take the tedium out of organizing online courses and make it more simple and effective at the same time. The e-learning feature that comes as part of the learning management system enables organizations to conduct online classes, facilitate discussions among learners, keep tutors and learners connected, make learning resources available to employees, conduct assessments, and provide certificates. Some learning management systems even come with a mobile application so that learners can take their courses on the go.

Myth #5: Training is too costly to be continuous

For your training initiatives to be successful, they have to be continuous. Organizing training programs once a year or once every six months may not have the desired impact on your employees. And because the impact is not as desired, the time, money, and energy spent behind these training programs may go waste, making training even costlier. On the other hand, organizing training programs once every three months at least can help employees hone their skills and improve their performance consistently. Adopting microlearning techniques can help a lot in making training programs continuous. Because microlearning encourages knowledge retention through bite-sized learning materials, it's easier to develop content and keep employees engaged.

Final thoughts

Considering the time, money, and effort that goes into developing a training program, it's important to not let these myths hinder its success. Once you break these myths down, nothing can stop your employees from staying ahead of the key trends in their field and helping your organization gain a competitive edge. We hope this blog gave a fair idea of all the myths surrounding employee training so you can look out for them in the future.